Family Ties
by Miss Mysty
Summary: Yukina's older brother pays him a visit, and Kisa can't help but feel like they've met before.  But where?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Because it was the start of the cycle, Kisa could get away with more things than he usually could. He was, for instance, lurking in a corner of Marimo Books near the shojo manga section where a bunch of plush chairs and a low table were set up. Most people used it to take a rest from shopping or read a few pages of a book before deciding to buy it.

Kisa, however, had what little work he had that early spread before him. And, more importantly, he had his eye constantly on the register, where his boyfriend stood. As usual, Yukina was charming a group of girls until they bought one of the manga Kisa edited. A graphic novel had just come out of one his series, and Yukina was already on it. Kisa had looked at the preorder sales earlier and was floored.

"I'm impressed, Kisa-san," Ritsu had said, looking over his shoulder. The entire office looked significantly better after that month's issue of Emerald went to the printers, but Ritsu was looking especially glowing.

"Your skin looks good today, Ritchan," Kisa had replied in a teasing voice, his chin cupped in his hands as he looked up at his coworker. Ritsu's face went red, as it was prone to do, and Kisa grinned. "Takano-san, I'm taking my work home!"

Takano just waved him off, barely hearing. He was in a better mood too, but he always was when a cycle ended. But, Kisa mused now as he looked at some story notes that were meant to appease him in case the storyboards were late (and they always were), he'd gotten away with more in the several months since Onodera Ritsu had been put in that pink, floral chair beside him.

Takano was distracted. And if there was one thing Kisa knew about, it was how a man acted when he was distracted by an attractive face. Kisa, for instance, was distracted for the thousandth time by Yukina, smiling and surrounded by shojo sparkles as he was. He didn't even try to tone down the charm when he knew Kisa was watching. In fact, it seemed to have increased since those days when Kisa hid behind bookshelves and watched from a distance.

Kisa muttered darkly to himself and went back to his laptop. Yukina's shift was over for the day in ten minutes, and then they could leave. They might get dinner, but ultimately, they'd end up at Yukina's apartment. He would never say, but it was obvious he was more comfortable when he had all his art supplies around.

A tinny clip of music sounded, and Yukina gracefully excused himself from the girls before pulling his cell phone out of the pocket of his apron. The ringtone sounded again, and Kisa recognized it. Kisa hadn't edited many manga that had been turned into anime, and that was the chorus for the theme song of one of those rare instances. He should've known.

"Hello, Yukina here," he said. A smile broke over his face, and Kisa's face warped into a scowl. He didn't enjoy the fact that other people could make his Yukina smile like that. "Onii-chan!"

Kisa was mildly surprised. He knew Yukina had an older brother; it was one of the things he'd confessed in that long speech that ranged from his height to his favorite person (Kisa Shouta, of course). He'd never seen the two interact, though. Kisa had assumed that the elder Yukina didn't live near enough for regular visits.

Kisa was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even eavesdrop on the conversation like Yukina's fan club did. IT was lucky for him that they were distracted, because as Kisa thought more and more about someone else making Yukina happy, even if it was family, his aura flared. The poor girls wouldn't have stood a chance. If he had been sitting in the shonen manga department, an over nine-thousand joke might've been appropriate.

It was the top of the hour, though, and Kisa nearly jumped out of his skin when the staff recommendation display sounded off. He was embarrassed that it was still there, but Yukina's boss had liked it.

"Kisa-san!" Yukina always called out his name with abandon, as if it were the secret password to riches. "I'll be right over, I just have to clock-out."

Yukina's fan club looked at Kisa suspiciously, as if they thought they needed to protect him from this baby-faced, bipolar man he often left with. It was much too late for that, though. Much, much too late.

"So uh, what was that call about?" Kisa asked as they left the store, doing his best to sound casual.

"It was my older brother, Ken." Yukina smiled as he tugged his hat lower on his head.

"Kou and Ken?"

"My parents like simple names."

Kisa had been so distracted that he didn't even notice Yukina lead him to his apartment building instead of their usual café. It wasn't that strange, since Yukina's friend had been teaching him new recipes. Kisa had kind of been looking forward to that coffee, though.

"Onii-chan is visiting Tokyo," Yukina went on as they climbed the stairs. The only elevator in the place had broken down long before Kisa and Yukina started dating.

"Oh. That's… nice. I guess he was calling so you two could go out to lunch or something?" He was through the door to Yukina's floor first, and was only vaguely suspicious of the man hanging out there in the hall that wasn't usually there. It wasn't like Yukina's apartment building was shady or anything, but Kisa had kind of gotten used to men hanging around for apparently no reason. Mostly around him.

"Onii-chan!" Yukina said with the same gusto from earlier. He approached the man who, now that Kisa thought about it, was standing right outside Yukina's door. "Kisa-san, this is my older brother, Yukina Ken."

Kisa just gawked. This was not how he expected his day to turn out.

**This fanfic was born when the Sekaiichi Hatsukoi community on LiveJournal pointed out that Yukina has an older brother, as mentioned in a chapter that isn't scanlated right now. A few people came up with the plot and I had to write it :P Hope you're enjoying it so far!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Yukina Ken didn't look especially like his younger brother. Although, Kisa supposed, it was probably the other way around: Yukina didn't look much like Ken. However, as they both sat on the floor of Yukina's apartment while he changed out of his work clothes, Kisa couldn't help but feel like they'd met before.

"So you're Kisa-san?" Ken said, breaking the awkward silence. "Kou's talked about you. I thought he said you were older than him, though."

Kisa almost asked what that was supposed to mean, but he stopped himself. Not having a new guy every night almost made him forget how young he looked, especially while going out with a guy nine years younger. So he just frowned and averted his eyes. "Why, how old do I look?"

"I dunno, maybe eighteen?" Ken gave a small smile, as if he really did believe Kisa was that young and was trying to humor him for Yukina's sake.

Without a word, Kisa brought out his ID and slapped it down, just as he'd done with Yukina. Not seeming to understand at first, Ken just stared at it for a few seconds before picking it up. His eyes scanned the contents until he got to Kisa's birthday.

"You're…"

"Thirty years old, yeah." Kisa grabbed the ID and put it back in his wallet, not daring to look at Ken the entire time. Yukina was still in the bathroom, and Kisa stood up. "I should probably go home. Work in the morning, etcetera." He really did say etcetera; that was how awkward he felt.

Ken could do nothing but look amused as Kisa ran for it. Well, that's not true. He could also get that same feeling that Kisa had, that they had met somewhere before. Ken, however, decided to shake it off. If he couldn't remember where, it obviously wasn't that important.

"Kisa-san?" Yukina was out of the bathroom just as the door closed, looking rather confused at the turn of events. He started to go after his boyfriend, but then the door opened again.

Kisa looked extremely embarrassed as he walked back over to Ken and picked up his wallet, which he had failed to put back in his pocket after putting his ID back in. When he saw Yukina was out, he gave a halfhearted smile. "I'll see you tomorrow. You're not working, right?"

"No, but I have my studio class until seven…" Yukina looked rather sad that his studies were getting in the way of them being able to spend time together, especially so early in the month when Kisa wasn't dead on his feet the few days he didn't stay in the office until early in the morning so he could push his titles through on time.

Kisa just nodded and looked like he was going to leave it at that. He was used to leaving it at that, mostly because he knew Yukina wouldn't say anything. But then, forgetting that Ken was there at all, Kisa muttered, "I could… wait for you, at the university if you want." He wouldn't look Yukina in the face. He wasn't very good at looking Yukina in the face. "Just let me know what building you'll be in."

Yukina immediately brightened up. Kisa had never offered to meet up with him anywhere but outside the bookstore, and the fact that he was now willing to hang around the university and wait for him made his heart grow about three sizes. Without another word, he wrote down the name of the building on a piece of paper, and even the room name of his studio, although he doubted Kisa would be that brave.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kisa-san." And then he kissed him just as Kisa was remembering they had an audience. Kisa, of course, didn't have the heart to pull away until Yukina did, at which point he left the apartment for the second time.

"So where's the big boss today?" Kisa asked, eying the empty desk that was usually occupied by Takano. He asked this of Ritsu, who just shrugged.

"How should I know? I'm not his keeper," he said. He proceeded to try to look busy, but it didn't really work. All he had on his desk was a finished project proposal and his laptop, which was open to the sales figures for his series. He decided to look extremely interested in these, even though he had looked them over a million times already.

Kisa was about to tease him as he usually did, but Hatori looked up from his desk. He actually had work to do, but that was mostly because his star author lived right there in Tokyo, so Hatori could go over and threaten bodily harm if the storyboards weren't ready in time. Not that it always worked. "Takano-san is meeting with an author right now. One of the ones that lives down in Kansai, I think."

"Oh, yeah, it was crazy!" someone else said. She wasn't one of the editors, so Kisa didn't really know her name. "She came with a bodyguard and everything. Seems her parents were paranoid about her being here in Tokyo."

"Parents?"

"She's eighteen," the woman went on. "One of those prodigies you hear so much about but never actually meet. Takano-san recently took on her first manga."

It sounded like the entire office was going to go into gossip mode, and Hatori slammed his hands down on his desk. "If you spent as much time working as you did gossiping, we'd be more prepared when our authors get their work in late!" Everyone scrambled to look like they were doing something, and Hatori breathed a sigh of relief and went back to his own work.

"Not a bodyguard, an escort."

All eyes but Hatori's went to the young girl standing in the office, with Takano right behind her. There was no hint of anyone else, though. "My parents had a family friend come with me, to make sure I didn't do anything too stupid." Then she bowed. "Nice to meet you all. I'm Kobayashi Miyuki. And this is…" Then she turned, and seemed to realize that it was only Takano behind her. "Huh, that's weird. Where'd Yukina-san go?"

A record scratched in Kisa's head, and he threw some of his papers around in a frantic way before realizing how conspicuous he looked. He calmly put them back in order, despite the fact that Miyuki was staring at him.

"Uh, anyway!" Miyuki clapped her hands together. "I'll be here in Tokyo for the rest of the month. I thought it would be easier, since this is my first time doing a chapter for the magazine. I hope we can all work together!" At that she turned, and then a grin split over her face. There was Ken, standing with two drink cans. "There you are!"

"You're the one that said you wanted green tea," Ken said, sounding only slightly annoyed. His eyes shifted into the room, and Kisa quickly ducked his head. Because of this, he wasn't able to tell whether Ken saw him there or not. "Anyway, how about we get back to the apartment? I'm sure Takano-san would enjoy having those storyboards in on time."

Takano made no comment, just glanced at them both, then over at the still-panicked Kisa, before lighting up a cigarette and going back to his own desk. Takano had enough of his own drama without caring about Kisa's.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The art building of T University, in a way, made Kisa think of high school. It had been about twelve years, of course, but high school was the last time Kisa had ever set foot in an art room. His college major had been art administration, which had more to do with dealing with artists and marketing work than doing anything himself. Other than correcting storyboards, he hadn't drawn in years.

Kisa pushed these thoughts aside for the time being and sat down on the edge of a huge, stone planter in front of the building. He had promised Yukina he'd be there when he got out of class, and he had turned down going out drinking with one of the women from the BL department. It was always a hoot going out with those women. If the men at Emerald had hilarious anecdotes, they had war stories. And they were probably the only people working for Marukawa that knew Kisa was gay.

The large clock tower in the middle of campus chimed seven times. Kisa had brought a copy of the new volume of Girl's Master, and at that, he opened it and threw it in front of his face as if an attractive man reading a shojo manga in the middle of a college campus was inconspicuous.

"He's cute! Do you think he's in the art department?"

Kisa smirked behind his manga. It was off-putting when Yukina's older brother thought he was that young, but his young looks were what got him so many guys. Maybe Yukina didn't care that he was essentially an old man, but there were a lot of men out there that thought they slept with a high schooler.

That little fact had kind of stopped creeping him out a long time ago, not that he'd let anyone know.

"Kisa-san!"

Kisa only looked up from his manga when his boyfriend's shadow fell over him. He jumped in surprise when he saw Yukina wasn't alone. Kobayashi Miyuki stood behind him, clutching between her hands the biggest coffee mug Kisa had ever had the pleasure of observing. If he knew mugs that big existed, he would've found the shop that sold them and bought five.

Yukina looked at Kisa apologetically. "I'm sorry, Kisa-san. Onii-chan wanted to visit our parents, and he doesn't think Kobayashi-san will do any work alone in her apartment."

"This coffee is good," Miyuki said, completely disregarding the previous statements. "I could stay up all night and finish the storyboards. I bet Takano-san would like that. Say, is he gay?" She turned to Kisa and for a brief second, he thought she was talking about him. "It's just this feeling that I get, but I'm not just going to ask him." Then she passed out. Yukina caught her, and Kisa saved her coffee.

"Heh, caffeine crash," Yukina said, gently moving her so he was giving her a piggy-back ride.

Kisa smirked. "Amateur." He leaned over to observe the sleeping Miyuki, helping himself to a gulp of her coffee. "So what should we do?"

"Probably take her home."

"Weird. I was thinking prop her up, tape open her eyes and scare the locals." Kisa stopped and stared at Miyuki's coffee, and then he snapped the little opening shut. "Remind me to never accept coffee from her."

Yukina smiled. The coffee was nothing special, if you ignored the metric ton of sugar Miyuki had dumped in it at the convenience store on their way there. He made a note to add sugar the next time Kisa stayed over and he made coffee.

Right then, though, he said, "I will."

Yukina knew the address of the apartment that Ken and Miyuki were staying in for the month. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the city. Kisa wasn't about to give up his time with Yukina, though, so he silently followed him through the subway station, ignoring the stares that the sleeping girl on Yukina's back brought. Finally, they were on their way, but in the car they entered, there was only room for one person to sit. Without a word, Kisa grasped a handle, and Yukina deposited Miyuki on the bench between a girl sporting stereotypical ganguro fashion and a business man with graying hair. He glanced at the girl, then stared at Yukina and Kisa suspiciously.

A biting remark was on the tip of Kisa's tongue, but he kept his mouth shut. For all he knew, he'd be stuck in this subway car with this man all the way to their stop, and he'd caused enough public disturbances in his life.

Considering the fact that the apartment was only rented for the month, Kisa had been expecting a small number, probably an efficiency unit, maybe with a separate bedroom that Miyuki used while Ken slept on the couch. Something like that. So as they got in the elevator of the apartment complex and kept going up and up and up, Kisa got more and more curious.

"Kobayashi-san's parents are paying for the apartment," Yukina explained. Miyuki had slept through the entire ride and was still passed out, so Yukina had carried her there as well. "I guess they're rich. That's what Onii-chan says, anyway."

"Ugh, this kind of lap of luxury sort of gets on my nerves," Kisa muttered to himself, not expecting Yukina to hear. The elevator doors opened up into a hall, but there was only one door on the entire floor, at least that Kisa could see. A penthouse apartment. He should've known.

Yukina seemed to sense that Kisa was uncomfortable around this all, because he said, "You don't have to stay here, Kisa-san. I just thought I'd stay with Miyuki until Onii-chan gets back." He smiled a small smile as he twisted around and grabbed the key ring on one of Miyuki's belt loops and found the right one, then shoved it into the lock.

"No way. I gotta see this," Kisa said. No matter how much he didn't like those huge apartments that only rich people could afford, he couldn't help but be curious, and now he was presented with the perfect opportunity to snoop around without looking suspicious. Yukina just shrugged and led the way in.

The inside looked more like a house than an apartment, at least compared to Kisa's own. There was two levels, a separate kitchen, and a huge couch and flat screen TV in the living room. Yukina carefully set Miyuki down on the couch as Kisa went over and inspected the manga equipment that was just shoved over in the corner. It didn't look like Miyuki had been using it.

Suddenly, though, Kisa had a thought. "Hey Yukina, did your brother used to live in the area?"

"Yes, of course," Yukina said. "Up until he graduated college, he lived here with me and the rest of our family. Then he moved out to Kansai for some reason. It was never very clear, but he seemed to be happy."

Kisa just shook his head and glanced over at the stairs, wondering if it would be appropriate to check out the second story. Miyuki muttered something in her sleep that sounded suspiciously like 'shojo sparkles.' Maybe she had been working on her manga after all. Kisa didn't bother asking Yukina any further questions. He'd figure out what was bugging him about Ken himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The apartment was fully-stocked as far as food went, and Yukina decided to make dinner. Ken would probably stay at their parents' place, and Yukina seemed to feel bad that Miyuki hadn't eaten yet.

"Well I did offer," Yukina said as he searched the cabinets for a rice cooker. "She was going to sit-in on my studio class, though, and said she didn't want to bring food in." He finally found the rice cooker and set it up. "Kisa-san, would you mind cutting up the vegetables?"

Kisa eyed the various vegetables Yukina had set out along with the cutting board. He picked up a cucumber and laughed despite himself. "I kind of want to keep this," he said, picking up the knife in his other hand.

Yukina smiled as he washed the rice. "And what would you need it for?"

"You'd be surprised." He started working on the vegetables, so he missed the somewhat dark expression that passed over Yukina's face. He only looked up when he heard Miyuki stir on the couch.

She appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, looking disoriented for a second. Then her eyes landed on Kisa, and she jumped. "Marukawa's already sending people after me!" She then disappeared, but Yukina and Kisa could hear her talking to herself.

"Kobayashi-san, it's okay! He's not here for that." Yukina set aside the rice and looked around until he found her under the light table. She was clutching a pencil and had draft paper spread before her. "That's Kisa-san. I told you about him."

Miyuki peered out from under the table, giving Kisa a curious look. "Are you sure? I saw him at Emerald. He's one of the editors."

"I think I'd know my own boyfriend, Kobayashi-san." Yukina smiled and sat down on the floor in front of her, reaching for the finished pages of storyboard she had piled around. "Do you need help? I know Onii-chan was supposed to act as your assistant, but he's not around, obviously."

Miyuki ducked her head, like she needed to think about this. She'd heard from Ken that Yukina really liked shojo manga, to the point where he'd managed to become overseer of the shojo manga department at the bookstore where he worked even though he was only a part-timer. She had been impressed and wanted to meet him, which was why she was glad to be given the opportunity to sit-in on one of his classes.

"Well…" Then she glanced over at Kisa, who was still doing his best to prepare the vegetables for their dinner. He sensed eyes on the back of his head and turned to look, and Miyuki quickly looked away. "It would be nice to have help! I mean, this installment is only twenty pages since it's my first, and Takano-san's been really helpful of course but I don't feel like I should call him…"

To tell the truth, Yukina didn't know if she could or not. He didn't know much about Takano, mostly because Kisa never really talked about him beyond basic things. Yukina didn't even know if he should be jealous of his boyfriend's boss or not, he knew so little.

As Yukina and Miyuki went to work, Kisa slowed his hand and eventually put the knife down so he could listen to them. It fascinated him how much Yukina knew about shojo manga; he might be able to rival the editors at Emerald, and some of those guys, including Kisa, were seasoned professionals. He almost hoped that when Yukina graduated, he'd want to be in the industry somehow. Obviously Marukawa wasn't the only publishing firm with a shojo manga division, but knowing Yukina, if he did go into the industry, Emerald would be his first choice.

"What's Onii-chan doing lately, anyway? He doesn't talk a lot about his job," Yukina said after they'd gone over the flow of five pages of the storyboard.

"He's a freelance designer still." Miyuki sat back on her bottom, staring at the red pen corrections that mostly belonged to Yukina. "That's how he and my parents met. He did the logo for my father's company."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, my parents own a toy company," Miyuki said, smiling. "Even though I'm eighteen now they still like to give me things to try out or just to have. Teddy bears, train sets, models, all kinds of stuff. They really hit the jackpot when people found out a famous author likes our teddy bears." Suddenly she stood up, saying something about showing Yukina one of them and she disappeared upstairs.

Yukina smiled, and Kisa absentmindedly went back to chopping vegetables. "Are all your authors this friendly? I don't think I've actually met any," Yukina said, taking the finished storyboards and evening out the pile.

"Hah, I wish," Kisa said. "Just wait until she's gotten a few installments in. Takano-san will be flying out to Kansai to tell her to get the hell to work."

"Have you ever had to do that?"

"Nah, I'm not that dedicated." He stopped chopping again and looked around. "Heh, maybe I should be."

Yukina put down the pile of storyboards and went up to Kisa, then hugged him from behind. "But you've put out so many good titles, Kisa-san. I think you're doing a good enough job." He laid his face in Kisa's hair, much to the older man's blushing. "Besides, airplane tickets are expensive. Wouldn't you want to save that money for when you can actually go on a vacation?"

"I haven't been on a vacation in years," Kisa said. He was about to elaborate when there was a crash upstairs, followed by a scream. Yukina let go of Kisa and ran up the stairs only to see Miyuki had been buried in an avalanche of bears.

He sighed and started digging.

Meanwhile downstairs, the door opened and Ken looked around. The rice had been left to cook when Yukina started helping Miyuki with the manga, so he could smell it. He was surprised; he didn't think Miyuki could even do that much.

"Oh, Kisa-san! Is my brother here?" Ken said, not acting the least bit surprised that Kisa was standing in his temporary kitchen.

"Upstairs." Kisa just continued chopping vegetables, not able to look Ken in the eye. Finally he had to, though, because Ken just kept staring at him. "What?"

"Did we… go to college together?" he said, that feeling that they'd seen each other before coming back.

"I don't know. Did you major in art administration at M University?"

"Yeah…"

They stared at each other as Yukina yelled upstairs, telling Miyuki to hold on as he kept pulling the bears out of the way.

"I don't think that's all, though." Ken scratched the back of his head, frustrated. Kisa just shook his head and went back to his work.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kisa ended up going home after they ate dinner, and Yukina gladly escorted him. That left Miyuki and Ken alone in their apartment. Miyuki had finally dragged her light table out of its corner and was working on the second half of her storyboard. Ken, for his part, didn't have anything to do until it came time to draw the actual pages. Instead, he was going through a box of pictures he'd gotten from his parents during his visit earlier that day.

Miyuki tried to look like she was working, but she couldn't help but look up again and again. The older man looked confused as he picked up a certain picture and examined it. "Yukina-san, what's the matter? You've been going through those pictures for three hours now."

Ken shook his head and put the picture beside him. Curious, Miyuki walked over and picked it up. It wasn't a very good picture. It was of a boy, his head slightly turned so you could see an eye and part of his mouth, but the frame was tilted and a finger hovered at one edge. "Well," Ken said, taking the photo out of Miyuki's hands. "There's a reason I never went into photography."

"Is that Kisa-san?" Miyuki pushed a piece of her long, black hair behind her ear and leaned forward a bit, looking expectant.

"I don't know," Ken said. "I never knew his name. We were in a class together my senior year. It was an intro class, the last one I had left to take, and I always assumed he was a freshman. But Kisa-san is my age."

"No way!" Miyuki said, falling back. "I thought he was closer to Kou-san's age! Did he find the fountain of youth or something?"

"I'm wondering that, too…" Ken had his eyes on the picture, but he was staring off into space.

"…so, what, did you two have a thing?" Miyuki said bluntly. Ken jumped in surprise, but Miyuki wasn't going to let it go. She poked Ken on the shoulder, over and over.

"Not really." Ken averted his eyes from Miyuki's intense stare. "As I told you, I didn't even know his name. We just…" Miyuki nodded, prodding him along. "Never mind. Get back to work. When you're done with the storyboards, Takano-san wanted you to go in for a face-to-face meeting."

Miyuki wilted, looking disappointed. It wasn't like she and Ken ever talked; he was her parents' friend, after all. Still, she liked him. And it wasn't like she had anything else to keep her excited as she kept herself closed-in until the manga pages were done.

Finally, she pulled her glasses down onto her eyes and went back to her light table. Ken kept staring down at the photo, though. "Hey Yukina-san, you think I could make a BL manga someday?"

"Why the sudden interest?" Ken said, finally putting away the photos and replacing the lid.

Miyuki shrugged, tapping her soft-lead pencil on the table. "There are rumors that Akikawa Yayoi bases her couples on real people, and Kou-san and Kisa-san looked so cute together." She grinned like the Cheshire Cat as Ken gawked at her.

"You are going to be the death of me."

It was Friday when Miyuki finally finished the storyboards. She might've done them sooner, but she ended up redoing the first five pages according to the corrections Yukina had given her. She was still only a day past the deadline, though, and the men at Emerald were infinitely amazed when she stepped into the office, Ken lurking behind her.

"I think she's the first author to get her storyboards in," Ritsu said as Takano put down the phone he'd been yelling into just before Miyuki and Ken arrived.

"That won't last." Hatori was always the optimist, after all.

Takano's phone suddenly rang again, though, and he sighed and picked it up. In the meantime, Miyuki looked around the room, amazed. "I didn't realize how… pink this place is when I first came here." She walked through the room, her heels clacking again the floor. That was probably the only time of the month you could actually see the floor; the rest of the time, it was covered in tone sheets, manuscripts and occasionally an editor. Ritsu was the first to go down those days.

Kisa had been sitting at his desk the entire time Miyuki and Ken were in there, just trying to go about his work. He knew Ken was aware he worked there at that point, but that didn't mean anything had to be different. Unfortunately, Kisa was out of coffee, and if he wanted more, he'd have to go down to the vending machine in the employee lounge. And, based on how many storyboards he didn't have (which was, of course, all of them), he'd need as much coffee as he could get.

As he was passing by Ken, who just continued to stand there in the doorway as Miyuki made a big deal out of the extremely pink office, he felt something being put in his hand. It seemed to be a slip of paper, or maybe a photo; he wasn't going to look down at it until he was alone, or at least away from Ken. He did look back at Ken, who had finally entered the office and put his hand on Miyuki's shoulder, saying something to her. Miyuki looked somewhat dismayed, so he was probably telling her to pull herself together. Even though she was still a teenager, she was, after all, a manga-ka for the company and should act professionally.

Because, of course, Kisa and the rest of the editors always acted in the most professional manner possible. The fact that Kisa was basically a humanoid lump when it got down to the wire on the magazine deadlines was beside the point.

Once Kisa got into the lounge, he reached into his pocket for change for the vending machine. He was alone in the lounge, which was odd; there was almost always at least one other person sitting in there, trying to ignore his or her duties. Since he was alone, Kisa decided to risk it and look at the piece of paper Ken had handed him.

It was, indeed, a photo. Kisa squinted down at it. It was slightly blurry, the frame was tilted and there was a finger in the way on one edge, but he could tell it was him. Judging by a few choice appearance details (his hair, for one; he would never understand why he thought that hairstyle was a good idea) it must've been taken when he was in college.

Kisa's can of coffee dropped down into the slot, and he picked it up. He kept staring at the picture, though, trying to think about why this photo was significant. He and Ken had already established that they'd gone to college together so why…

Kisa started choking as realization dawned on him, and he put the coffee can down on a side table before thumping himself on the chest. Well, this was going to be awkward.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ken and Miyuki were both gone by the time Kisa got back to the Emerald office, for which he was infinitely grateful. He had work to do, after all, and he couldn't exactly do that after his realization in the lounge if Ken were standing there, watching him. Just as he was about to pick up his landline, though, his cell phone buzzed and scooted across the empty space on his desk. Kisa knew before he even opened it who was texting him.

_Kisa-san, what time are you getting out of work today?_

Kisa sighed and shook his head. He had plenty of things he could be doing even if he didn't have any of his authors' storyboards. Hatori was the deputy editor-in-chief, but Takano had a habit of dumping paperwork on him when he had to be out of the office. Kisa took one look at the pile of manila envelopes in front of him and felt his will to live dying. He picked up his cell phone and settled on a sarcastic reply.

_Sometime this year, if I'm lucky._

It was barely a minute later when the reply came.

_My mother and father want to go out to dinner with me and Onii-chan. They already said it's okay for you to come, since Onii-chan would be bringing Kobayashi-san._

Kisa's fingers itched to type out a reply to the effect of 'So I'm on the same level as Kobayashi-san?' when the implications of his boyfriend's last text hit him. He'd been drinking some of his coffee, and he did a spit-take.

"Nice one, Kisa." Mino was beside Kisa, smiling like he usually did when he wasn't under the weight of their deadline. Kisa jumped in terror. He'd never get used to that. Mino just shrugged and wandered off. He had a stack of papers in his arms that looked suspiciously like storyboards. Kisa knew that the authors Mino was in charge of tended to get their things in sooner than the rest, and Kisa had a few ideas why. None he'd share in decent company, of course.

_Your parents know about us?_

_No, I thought tonight would be a good time for them to find out._

In all of his thirty years, Kisa could not remember a single time when he'd been in a relationship long enough for the other guy to want to introduce him to his parents. It was a brand new experience for him and, if he could help it, one he wouldn't be experiencing any time soon.

It broke his heart just thinking of saying no to Yukina, though. He took another look at the paperwork Takano had dumped on his desk that morning and, once again, sighed.

_If I get enough work done I can tell my authors to fax me their storyboards to my apartment. I guess six o'clock._

Of course, Kisa doubted he'd get home to his apartment and find any storyboards in his personal fax machine, but a guy could dream, right?

Kisa didn't even bother to look at his phone after that, even though it went off. He knew Yukina would come and pick him up at six o'clock. If everything went right, he'd be standing outside the building, maybe drawing a crowd as people leaving Marukawa stop or slow down so they can stare at him.

He was about to pick up a pack of paperwork and actually get something done when he realized there were some people in there that didn't belong. They were hiding, of course, though it was just behind the doorjamb of the office, as if that would prevent the Emerald men from seeing them. They were editors from Sapphire, the BL division of Marukawa. Kisa had spent many a night out drinking with those women.

They didn't seem to be there for him, though. Ritsu had gotten up while Kisa was gone, and they watched him with interest as he came back into the office, a stack of papers in his arms.

"Where's Takano-san?" one of them asked him. The others nodded, as if this was the entire point of their day: to ask Ritsu where Takano was.

Ritsu looked kind of uncomfortable as he dropped the stack of papers onto Hatori's desk and the older man started going through them. "He has a meeting right now. He'll be back later if you had something you needed to talk to him about." Ritsu looked between the women, who visibly wilted at the news. "It's not the end of the world…"

They all turned and stormed away as if it was exactly the opposite of what Ritsu was telling them. Kisa was tempted to go after them, but then he'd fall victim to the BL fangirls. They'd probably ask him to go out drinking, since he hadn't been out with them in a while (mostly because when he wasn't spending night and day at work, he spent all his free time with Yukina).

Speaking of fangirls, however, Kisa looked up from his paperwork again only to see Miyuki trying to wiggle under his desk.

"Uh, Kobayashi-san, what exactly are you trying to do?" he said as she succeeded in getting in and proceeded to curl in on herself.

"Takano-san is scary. Can I switch editors?" She looked up at him, looking almost ready to cry. Kisa could tell the difference between real crying and crocodile tears, though.

"You get used to it," he said. He tried to push in his chair, but Miyuki wasn't moving, so he was stuck with his chair awkwardly halfway under his desk as he went back to work.

Miyuki was silent, though, as Kisa went about his business. Takano went through, but he didn't even ask if anyone had seen Miyuki. Kisa briefly wondered where Ken was, if he was supposed to be her escort, but he had better things to do so it didn't last long.

"Hey, Kisa-san," Miyuki finally said, staring up at him even as she still had her legs pulled up to her chest. Kisa didn't react, but Miyuki had a feeling he was listening. "Did you and Yukina-san have sex when you were younger?"

"W-what?" Kisa asked, rolling his chair completely out of the desk and staring down at her. She was grinning and, unlike with working with Takano, it didn't seem like she was giving up. Kisa averted his eyes. "I did a lot of things in college, Kobayashi-san. I don't think it's really your business to ask."

"So that means yes." Miyuki grinned and put her glasses on, producing sketch paper from her messenger bag. "Last night, I asked Yukina-san if he thought I could make a BL manga someday. Would you mind?"

"Mind what?"

Before she could answer, Ken was beside Kisa, staring down at Miyuki. He sighed and shook his head. "Takano-san finished editing your storyboards, so can we please go home for now?"

"I don't want to!" Miyuki said, and she tugged on Kisa's legs until his chair wheeled into place and he was, in a way, protecting her.

Kisa just shrugged. "She can stay here if she wants. There's equipment to work, so Takano-san can set her up somewhere out of the way."

Miyuki heartily approved of this plan, and she burst out from under the desk, sending Kisa's chair flying. Ken grabbed the back of it, preventing him from completely tipping over. Kisa, for his part though, couldn't even look at him as Miyuki went up to Takano to ask for supplies.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Ah, you must be Kisa-san."

Yukina was standing outside Marukawa as expected, with Ken and a man and woman Kisa could safely assume were their mother and father. They weren't talking to him, though. Miyuki had left the building in front of him, and Yukina's parents approached her when Yukina waved. Kisa could feel his eye twitching, and Yukina was about to say something, but Miyuki beat them to it.

"Nope!" she said, and then she bowed. "My name is Kobayashi Miyuki. Nice to meet you."

Kisa stayed back in the entrance, still hesitant about this whole 'meeting the parents' thing. Yukina had seen him, though, and of course, he didn't understand what was wrong. Yukina smiled at him, and Kisa ducked his head, clutched his bag to his chest, and approached the group.

It was a bit scary, seeing Yukina's parents and being able to tell where he got his looks. His mother had the same hair color, but his father looked more like him, whereas his mother seemed to be where Ken inherited most of his physical appearance. Right now, they were both staring at him.

"Um, nice to meet you. I'm Kisa Shouta." He bowed at a clean ninety-degree angle. He couldn't remember the last time he had bowed that low, but the looks he was receiving from Yukina and Ken's parents suddenly made him want to be as respectful as possible so they had no reason to say he did something to get on their bad sides.

"Ah," Yukina's mother said, a vague smile on her face. "Yes of course. I'm Gina, and this is my husband Taro." Yukina's father didn't look like he wanted to be part of the conversation as the odd group started down the sidewalk. "Kou tells me you work as an editor at Marukawa. You must be very good to get the position so young."

Kisa felt like beating his head against the nearest building. Even with all the guys he slept with, he didn't have to explain himself this much. Of course, that was mostly because he was okay with them assuming he was as young as he looked.

Miyuki came to the rescue, though, mostly because she could tell how awkward Kisa felt. "Oh he's older than he looks," she said, smiling over at him. "I kind of envy him. I'd love to look that good at thirty." She sighed and ambled along, eventually leaving the group behind. It wasn't like she knew where they were going, but Yukina's parents had both stopped to stare at Kisa at Miyuki's last remark.

Yukina's father continued on after the initial shock wore off, but Gina kept pace with Kisa. "Really? You must tell me your secret for looking so young. I've tried everything but I'm afraid my age has caught up with me after all these years."

"Heh, I doubt you'd want to know," Kisa said, averting his eyes. He wasn't about to tell his boyfriend's mother what he told all those women at Marukawa who asked him his secret.

Miyuki was the one that kept the conversation going when they got to the restaurant. She could talk a lot, and no one was trying to stop her. She talked about everything, and that included her interest in making a BL manga someday after visiting the Emerald office.

"And why's that?" Gina asked kindly, because she was the only one willing to give Miyuki the cues to keep going.

"There's a lot of inspiration there," Miyuki said, that perpetual grin still on her face. "When I was there, I stopped in at the BL department. Did you know they have a betting pool, Kisa-san? A lot of different scenarios. It's pretty awesome."

"Nice women. Too much time on their hands," Kisa said, trying to look indifferent. Then his phone vibrated in his coat pocket. He glanced at it and sighed. The waitress was just coming their way with the food, and he didn't want to get up, but he had a feeling he'd have to. "Sorry, it's one of my authors. Probably calling to say they fled to America or something." He was only half-joking with that, mostly because he suspected one of them would do that someday. Yukina's parents simply nodded and let him go without a word. Kisa stepped out onto the sidewalk and could clearly be seen talking from the long window.

Yukina's mother said something about going to the bathroom, completely disregarding the waitress as she put the food down on their table. She gave his father a significant look. When she was gone, he turned to Yukina. "Kou," he said, not picking up his silverware. "You know we've been supportive of you. Your mother nearly had a heart attack when she found out you wanted to go to college for painting instead of something practical, but obviously we warmed-up."

"Father, I'm not sure why you're lecturing him, with the stories you told us about your college days," Ken said, looking at his father over his glass.

Yukina's father ducked his head. "That's not relevant, because obviously I got over the need to… rebel."

Yukina glanced out the window at Kisa, who was pacing the sidewalk by then. He couldn't hear what his boyfriend was saying, but he didn't look happy.

And then his father snorted. "Besides, you're not married. How do I know you're not just as flaming as him?"

It was Ken's turn to look slightly embarrassed, and Yukina was probably the only one that caught his older brother give the shortest of glances outside to Kisa. By that time, Kisa had snapped his phone shut and threw it on the ground. So much for the old saying, don't shoot the messenger.

"Onii-chan?" he asked.

He didn't get an answer, though. Kisa entered the restaurant again, frowning down at the cell phone he had reluctantly picked back up off the ground. "I have to go, Yukina. The one night an artist actually tries to send storyboards to my apartment and I forgot to put paper in my fax machine. I should probably get there before they change their mind."

Kisa bowed to Yukina's father, apologizing, before heading back out. Yukina glanced over to Ken, who was watching Kisa out of the corner of his eye even as he ate. Their eyes met for a brief second before Yukina got up. "Kisa-san, wait!" he called. The two exited the restaurant together.

Miyuki had been silent the entire time, mostly because she had been taking notes on a blank page of her sketchpad. When she saw Kisa and Yukina were leaving, though, she tried to get up. One look from Ken put her back in her seat. She frowned down at her meal. "You never let me have any fun."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Yes, I got it. Thank you, Morimoto-sensei." Kisa sighed and hung up his cell phone. Then he fell back on his couch, holding the recently-acquired storyboards up in the air and vaguely staring at them. Yukina was over in his kitchen, fixing them something to eat since they left the restaurant without even touching their orders.

Yukina finally came in with two plates of spaghetti with meat sauce and two cups of tea. He set them down on the coffee table, and there was a short silence as they both started eating.

"Kisa-san, I've been wanting to ask you something," Yukina said, putting down his fork. Kisa was distracted by the storyboards and just nodded. "Did you know Onii-chan before this?"

Kisa's head snapped up, his own fork dropping down onto his plate with a clang. "Who told you that?" he said, laughing in a way that he hoped didn't make him sound like a maniac. Yukina just sat there staring at him, and Kisa ducked his head. "Well… you said you didn't care about my past, all the guys I've slept with."

"…you and…" Yukina didn't look like he could finish the thought, and Kisa nodded.

"It's kind of stupid, really," Kisa said, not able to look Yukina in the eye. "We were in the same year in university, and I met him at a party the night before graduation. He said we'd had a class together but I didn't remember. Of course we still…" Kisa waved his hand vaguely, as if that gesture expressed the rest of it. "I was used to guys I slept with in college trying to contact me again, but I never heard from him after that. I thought it was because we graduated, but you said he suddenly moved out to Kansai after he finished college." Kisa shrugged his shoulders. "That was eight or nine years ago. He was just another guy."

Finally he looked up, only to see that Yukina was still staring at him, his face carefully blank. Kisa hunched his shoulders and ducked his head, ready to be yelled at, for Yukina to be furious. When none of that happened, he looked back up in time for Yukina to come around the coffee table and lay against his side.

"Oh Kisa-san," Yukina said, closing his eyes. "Onii-chan never did tell me why he felt the need to get out of Tokyo, and I guess I know now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kisa asked, looking put-off.

"I think he liked you, back then. It seems kind of weird, saying that about my older brother, but I can't say I don't see why." Yukina smiled and pulled Kisa's head around into a kiss.

Kisa finally put down the storyboards he had in his other hand and wrapped his arms around Yukina's neck. Just as Yukina pushed him onto his back on the couch, there came two rings. Both of their cell phones had started going off at the exact same time.

"…awesome timing," Kisa muttered as Yukina pulled back and reached for his own phone. Kisa glanced at the display of his only to see it was Morimoto-sensei again. He was tempted to just ignore it, but this had to be the first time since she was first accepted as an artist for Emerald that she had taken so much initiative. What a time for her to become a hard worker.

"Good evening, Morimoto-sensei," he said, glancing over and seeing Yukina had gone into the other room to talk. Kisa couldn't tell who had called him just from the small snippets of his side of the conversation he could pick up.

"I'm sorry to call again. I hope I didn't interrupt anything," Morimoto-sensei said, sounding genuinely sorry.

Kisa sighed and shook his head. "No, of course not. I was just eating dinner. Was there something you forgot about when we talked earlier?"

"Um, yes actually," Morimoto-sensei said. "I forgot one of the storyboard pages when I faxed them over earlier. I was hoping you'd still be home, but I know you must have your own life."

"What would make you think that?" Kisa asked, only having a hint of irony in his voice. The further it got into a cycle, the less of a life he had, if he had to be honest with himself. "Feel free to fax it over to me and I'll add it in."

"Thank you, Kisa-san!" Morimoto-sensei said. "I can't believe I forgot this page. It's rather important! But one of my assistants found it laying there in my tub. I honestly have no idea why it was there. I can't recall doing any of my storyboard the last time I bathed."

"Yes, well, it happens to the best of us." Kisa glanced over at his fax machine as it started beeping and pulling a piece of paper through. "And there it is. Thank you for all your hard work, Morimoto-sensei."

"You, too! I couldn't do it without you, Kisa-san." They said their good-byes and hung up.

Yukina was still in the other room, and Kisa glanced in at him as he picked up his cup of tea and went over to the fax machine. He picked up the page and looked at it. According to the page number in the corner, it went just about in the middle. It was a reveal page, where the main character's love interest finds out she was actually the superhero who'd been saving him for months now. He hadn't even gotten to that point in the storyboard, so he hadn't noticed it was missing.

As he was putting it in its proper place with the rest, Yukina finally emerged, snapping shut his cell phone. "I'm sorry, Kisa-san. That was just my parents. They'd still like to go out with us."

"I don't really see that happening. I doubt I'll have time the rest of the month." Kisa had gone back to his distracted mode, taking out a red pen and starting his storyboard corrections.

"I know, Kisa-san. I told them maybe at the end of the month, after the new issue of Emerald has gone to print. They said they understand." Yukina smiled and picked his fork back up. "Kobayashi-san and Onii-chan plan to go back to Kansai after Kobayashi-san's seen Emerald out for sale. I suppose she sees it as a big step in her career."

"It is. And with Takano-san as her editor, I'm sure her manga will be very successful," Kisa said, his eyes following his hand as he drew an arrow between two panels. When he finally looked up at his boyfriend, Yukina had that same blank look on his face as he stared at him. "What?"

Yukina smiled and shook his head. "Nothing."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Oh, the new issue of Emerald is out!" a girl exclaimed when she saw Yukina putting copies of it on the shelf. The girls that always crowded around him followed suit, and Yukina smiled that radiant smile of his.

"It's a good one this month," he said. "An acquaintance of mine is making her debut this month, and she's nervous about how it will go."

"I'm sure we'll love it!" another girl exclaimed, and each and every one of them snatched up a copy and started flipping through. Yukina smiled. That had been easier than usual. They were nice girls, but they were easily influenced. Of course, that just made his job of selling them as much manga as possible that much easier. "Kobayashi Miyuki, right? It really does look good! I'll probably buy the graphic novel when it comes out, too."

"Kobayashi-san will be happy to hear that." Yukina was finished stocking the shelves, so he started to break down the box so he could put it in the recycling on his way out. His shift was almost over. It was originally supposed to go later, but since Kisa was finally free from what he liked to call Hell Week, they finally had the time to go out with his parents again.

Originally he was supposed to meet Kisa at his apartment, since he was closer to the restaurant they intended to go to for dinner, but he'd gotten a text just a few minutes ago saying Kisa would pick him up, since he was in the area, anyway. Just as he was thinking about that, he glanced over and saw Kisa pushing through a crowd of girls oohing and aahing over a display.

"Kisa-san!" he said, waving his boyfriend over. The girls that were still hanging around, reading the new issue of Emerald, looked up and over to Kisa. They all seemed to recognized him.

"Yukina-san, who is that guy, anyway?" one of the other girls asked as Kisa approached.

Yukina smiled just as Kisa came up to them, glancing at the girls a bit warily. "This is Kisa Shouta. He's one of the editors at Emerald, and he's in charge of Morimoto Kana, among other authors."

The girls' expressions immediately changed, and they crowded around him. Kisa looked a bit nervous; even though he'd been a shojo manga editor for years now, he wasn't really used to girls crowding around him. Even during school, he seemed to put off a vibe that he was, indeed, completely gay. They all started introducing themselves, and Kisa glanced over to Yukina, who was just smiling as always.

"Ah, Yukina, Kobayashi-san called. She finally got her apartment contract in and she wanted us to go over and have dinner with her to celebrate. Your parents agreed to change their plans as well." He glanced back over to the girls, who'd stopped tittering like a bunch of birds and were now looking between Yukina and Kisa suspiciously again.

Yukina nodded. "Okay. I'm almost done with my shift, so if you wouldn't mind waiting for a bit, I'll go over with you." And then, right in front of the girls, he gave Kisa a quick kiss before pushing through the crowd so he could go drop off his recycling.

The girls all looked flabbergasted, and Kisa used the time they were distracted to leave the store. It was probably safer for both him and Yukina if he just waited outside like usual.

"So Kobayashi-san decided to stay in Tokyo, huh?" Yukina asked later as the two walked along the sidewalk. "Onii-chan said she might. I imagine it would be easier for her, at any rate."

"Yeah, and Takano-san has one more author to chase around the city when something is due," Kisa said, his hands in his pockets.

"I'm sure Kobayashi-san will do fine," Yukina said. "I've been talking to a lot of my usual customers about this month's issue of Emerald, and they all said they'd buy an issue to support her."

"Your ability to sell never ceases to amaze me," Kisa said, staring up at the sky instead of in front of him or at Yukina. "Although it has helped me, with how many issues of my authors' manga you've managed to sell."

"It's my pleasure, Kisa-san." Then Yukina's eyes drifted, and he stopped. "Kisa-san, would you mind if we stop here? I'd like to get Kobayashi-san some flowers."

"Yeah, sure." It was just like Yukina to want to do something like that, Kisa thought as he watched his boyfriend go into the flower shop and talk to the man at the counter. Kisa vaguely thought the man looked familiar, but he shook his head and looked away before he could think about where he'd seen him before.

Yukina emerged with a big bouquet of sunflowers. They had been a prominent feature on the cover page of Miyuki's debut manga chapter. She mentioned how much she liked them, and Takano had ended up telling her to feature them. It had certainly been pretty; the cover page had been the last thing she drew, but it didn't even need to be redrawn.

"So is your brother still in Tokyo?" Kisa asked as they continued along.

"Yes, but he's going back on the train tomorrow morning," Yukina said. Yukina had spent some time with his brother since Kisa's confession about their past, but Kisa hadn't seen him since their failed dinner with Yukina's parents earlier in the month. He felt like there was something they needed to square away, but Kisa had never been very good at talking about his feelings.

Miyuki had ended up renting out the apartment she and Ken stayed in for the month, getting funding from her parents. They didn't even mind paying for it; Kisa briefly thought it must be nice to have that kind of disposable income. It wasn't like he didn't have enough money, though, and he was still kind of annoyed by those huge apartments rented by only one person.

Yukina's mother and father were both helping Miyuki cook when Yukina and Kisa got there. Yukina smiled and gave Miyuki her flowers, and she ran off to find a vase to put them in with a huge smile on her face. As she ran up the stairs, she passed by Ken, who had a bag in his arms.

"Onii-chan?" Yukina asked as his mother and father went back to cooking. "I thought you weren't going back to Kansai until tomorrow morning."

Ken glanced at his younger brother, then over to Kisa and back down at his bag. "I got a job up in Hokkaido and the client wants to see me tomorrow morning, so I exchanged my ticket. I'll be heading out after dinner." Then he put his bag down on the floor in back of the couch and patted Yukina on the shoulder. "I'll come back through on my way home, though, if you want me to stop."

Yukina glanced over to Kisa, who just shrugged and looked up to the second floor, like waiting for Miyuki to put the flowers in a vase was really all he was there for. "That would be nice," Yukina finally said. "Let me know, okay?" And then he left the two there in the living room when he heard a crash from upstairs. Knowing Miyuki, she'd probably buried herself in a pile of bears again.

Ken smiled when Kisa finally caught his eye. "It was nice seeing you again!" he said, sounding more like he was talking to an old friend than a guy he'd slept with.

"Yeah, you too." Kisa tried to ignore the sounds of Yukina yelling for Miyuki to hold on. It seemed there had been an avalanche of bears again. Other than that, there was silence, even from the kitchen. "…is this where we have some kind of big talk and work things out."

Ken seemed to consider this as he stared down at his bag. "Nah. This is where I tell you to take care of my little brother, and that if I ever hear you dumped him, I promise to jump on the first train to Kanto and kick your ass."

"Fair enough." Kisa didn't think it was entirely appropriate to tell him he'd already tried to dump Yukina once and it hadn't exactly worked.

Miyuki suddenly came bounding down the stairs. She had been liberated of the pile of bears and had Yukina's sunflowers in a beautiful, blue vase. She also had a teddy bear clinging to the top of her head.

"Uh, Kobayashi-san…" Kisa started to say.

"Yeah?"

"You have a… a teddy bear on top of your head."

"Yeah, I know." Miyuki smiled and put the flowers down in the middle of the dining room table, rearranging a petal here and there.

"…meanwhile, I'm not sure how long she'll survive without me," Ken said, eying Miyuki.

They both watched as Yukina took the teddy bear off Miyuki's head, smiling at something his mother said. Kisa almost said something sentimental, but he checked himself before it could even fully-form in his brain.

"The day she chose to be a manga-ka was the day she signed her own death warrant."

"Ah yes, that's true." Ken gave Kisa one last smile before joining his family. Kisa had to admit that even though Yukina and his older brother didn't look a lot alike, they did have the same smile.


End file.
